Bitcoin’s price quickly rose to $64,500 before falling back slightly to $63,700. It finished the day down 0.6%, but its overall market value remained steady at $1.277 trillion.
Key Takeaways
- On July 29, bitcoin briefly surged to $64,500 before pulling back 0.6% after Middle East conflict reports.
- Coinglass data showed nearly $310 million in crypto liquidations as crude oil spiked past $90 a barrel.
- Traders await the Federal Reserve meeting, where a rate hold at 3.5% to 3.75% may sustain market headwinds.
Moderate Pullback Limits Liquidations
Bitcoin’s price went up and down on July 29th as investors responded to two major events: an unexpected attack on a U.S. base in Jordan by Iran, and the Federal Reserve’s choice to keep interest rates unchanged. Bitcoin traded between $63,500 and $64,000 for much of Tuesday and Wednesday, but then jumped to $64,500 by 4 a.m. Eastern Time.
Bitcoin briefly dipped after reaching a high, but then found strong support at the $64,000 level for about six hours. It attempted to break through $64,500 twice without success before falling. By 1:10 a.m. EST, its price dropped to just under $63,700, erasing earlier gains. However, when the Federal Open Market Committee announced it would hold interest rates steady shortly after, Bitcoin quickly rebounded to $64,400 and then stabilized around $64,200 (as of 2:20 p.m. EST).
This late surge resulted in a 1% daily drop for bitcoin, lifting its market capitalization to $1.29 trillion. The marginal gain lowered bitcoin’s weekly losses to 2.5% and pushed 30-day gains down to 6.6%. The relatively calm price action significantly reduced the scale of leveraged liquidations over the 24 hours.
According to Coinglass, crypto traders lost over $38 million in a recent market event, with those betting against the market (short positions) accounting for $25 million of those losses. Overall, nearly $322 million worth of crypto positions were closed by exchanges, including $224 million from traders who bet prices would rise (long positions) and $99 million from those who bet prices would fall (short positions).
Similar to how traditional markets react, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies initially fell in value due to increased tensions in the Middle East. Reports of airstrikes by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia targeting militias in Iraq raised concerns that the conflict could spread across the region. This led to a more than 6% increase in crude oil prices, bringing Brent crude back above $90 a barrel after it had previously dropped when strikes paused between the U.S. and Iran.
However, U.S. markets shook off early caution as attention shifted from the Middle East conflict to the Federal Reserve, with investors bracing for policy signals from this week’s FOMC meeting. After the Fed delivered a widely anticipated, no‑surprise decision, sentiment snapped back: U.S. equities climbed, and the Nasdaq staged a sharp rebound that nearly wiped out its earlier losses.
Even though the Federal Reserve decided against raising interest rates on Wednesday, they might still do so before the end of the year. For Bitcoin, this means any increase in price will probably depend on factors specific to the cryptocurrency itself – such as more institutions investing, money flowing into Bitcoin ETFs, or improvements to the Bitcoin network – rather than general economic improvements.
2026-07-29 21:58